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“But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God).” Gal 5:16

To walk in the Spirit is to walk with your eyes fixed on Jesus. In John 6:48 Jesus tells us that He is the bread of life. He confirms that to dwell in Him (walking in the Spirit) is to be aware of the sacrifice and what His flesh and blood accomplished:

“He who feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood dwells continually in Me, and I [in like manner dwell continually] in him.” John 6:56

Promises that we can trust if we dwell in Him (feeding on, or being aware of His sacrifice) include the following:

“He who dwells in the secret place of the most High shall remain under the shadow of the most High…He will cover thee with His pinions and under His wings shall you find refuge…Because you have made the Lord your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place, there shall no evil befall you, nor any plague, nor any calamity come near your tent…” Ps 91:1,4,9-10

The Father, Spirit and Son are one, so to walk in the Spirit is to walk with God. To dwell with Him is the most natural, easy thing for man to do. Think about Jesus’ sacrifice in every situation you encounter. If you are sick, realize that His sacrifice brought healing for all. If you feel condemned, realize that His sacrifice made you blameless before God. Be aware, constantly, of how His sacrifice changed everything around us. It will give you life in every situation.

Many influences in your life might have shaped the way you see God. Many people see God as a clinical God, who goes about the business of His day without much regard for us ‘lowly’ people. In a previous post I spoke about God being very near to us, not somewhere far away. In this post I want to focus on the fact that God is able to empathize with our circumstances, understanding what we are going through.

“When Jesus saw her sobbing, and the Jews who came with her [also] sobbing, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. [He chafed in spirit and sighed and was disturbed.]…Jesus wept.” John 11:33,35

Jesus did not act distant when he saw how sad Mary and the rest of the Jews were. He felt their pain and sadness, and He also wept with them. To empathize means to understand, to share or to put oneself in another one’s shoes. It denotes a deep deep emotional understanding of our feelings or problems.

“For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation.” Heb 4:15

You can know without a doubt that God understands what you are going through. He has empathy. He has a deep understanding of the feelings you experience. You are not alone! His Spirit abides in you and is your constant companion.

“Therefore, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus … For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death. For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice], so that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us…” Rom 8:1-4

Romans 8 gives us irrefutable proof that justification does NOT come through the law. It clearly says there is something which the law cannot do – namely the abolishing and overcoming of sin. God, on the other hand, was able to accomplish this. He sent His son as an offering for sin, and in this way met everyrighteous and just requirement of the Law. In other words – there is nothing of the law that is left for us to complete. Every single requirement was met through Jesus’ sacrifice.

In other words, if we now believe in this sacrifice we are completely set free and justified. That is why there is now no more condemnation for us. No one can point a finger at us and tell us we are not righteous or acceptable before God. We can approach Him boldly and without fear. We have been forever freed from the law of sin and death (a strict list of rules which had to be followed in order to not experience wrath and condemnation) to walk in a law of the Spirit of life (which is Jesus and the life in abundance we now have in Him).

“But as for you, the anointing which YOU RECEIVED FROM HIM ABIDES (permanently) in you.” 1 John 2 v 27

In simple terms – the anointing is the power or the ability of God. If you are a Christian, you receive this anointing and it then abides permanently within you. Marnes Nel from Immanuel Ministries explained it like this:

“The best way to explain the anointing is to compare it to a dam full of water. This dam abides permenantly in all Christians, but not all Christians have all the floodgates open. Some have a stronger flow in certain areas than others, but it is important to remember that all Christians are anointed. That is why the Bible says that the same spirit (the Holy Spirit) abides in us but works in different ways or gifts. All the gifts come from the same water (the Holy Spirit), but it manifests in different ways – for example healing, prophecy, words of knowledge etc.”

The anointing cannot be seen, but it’s effect is evident to all people around it. Examples of this anointing in the Bible include the following:

Healing flowing through the body of the woman who touched Jesus’ garment (Luke 8:43);

People getting healed through Peter’s shadow that fell on them (Acts 5:15);

A dead boy coming back to life when Elijah laid his body on the child (2 Kings 4:32);

People getting healed through clothes that touched Paul’s body being sent to them (Acts 19:12).

If you want to live in a greater flow of God’s anointing the only way to do it is to receive more grace. It is not through effort or striving – but just through believing what He has already accomplished.

“But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth.” Acts 1:8

“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control” 2 Tim 1:7

“However, we possess this precious treasure [the divine Light of the Gospel] in [frail, human] vessels of earth, that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from God and not from ourselves.” 2 Cor 4:7

There is no way you can produce power out of your own effort. It is, once again, realizing what Jesus accomplished on the cross which will enable God’s power to work through you. Realize that He now dwells within you, and makes His power available through you in order to touch people’s lives and demonstrate His goodness to the world.

I cringe when I hear people blaming sickness and disease on God. In a previous post I spoke about God’s love being better than an earthly father’s love. What earthly father would give His child cancer, or some incurable disease? I want to add to this by quoting the following verse:

“Do you not discern and understand that you [the whole church at Corinth] are God’s temple (His sanctuary), and that God’s Spirit has His permanent dwelling in you [to be at home in you, collectively as a church and also individually]? If anyone does hurt to God’s temple or corrupts it [with false doctrines] or destroys it, God will do hurt to him and bring him to the corruption of death and destroy him. For the temple of God is holy (sacred to Him) and that [temple] you [the believing church and its individual believers] are.” 1 Cor 3:16-17

This verse clearly states that we are God’s temple, and that His Spirit dwells in us. Now, what logic is there in sending sickness to overtake and destroy your own temple, if it is sacred to you? This verse goes as far as to say that God will destroy the man who touches or hurts God’s temple. That means He is so protective of us (His dwelling place), that He will avenge any evil or harm done to us. God does not have a split personality, so why would He be so fiercely protective of our bodies (His temple) on the one hand, and then send disease and sickness to hurt it on the other hand? It makes no sense – and it also does not line up with the goodness of His character that He reveals to us in Jesus.

Do not be mislead – sickness does not come from God, but from sin. Please see this post for more information.

Last night we spoke about the living water that Jesus gives – living water that will take away your thirst forever and cause a stream of living water to start flowing inside you as well. At the end of the post I referred to John 7:39, and this is where I want to start.

“He who believes in Me [who cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me] as the Scripture has said, From his innermost being shall flow [continuously] springs and rivers of living water. But He was speaking here of the Spirit, Whom those who believed (trusted, had faith) in Him were afterward to receive. For the [Holy] Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (raised to honor).”

This verse says that living water will flow from the innermost being of anyone who believes in Jesus. It gets better – because the living water is the Spirit of God! In John 16:7 Jesus called Him a Comforter (a Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener and Standby).

This magnificent Person is now in close fellowship with us (in our innermost being), and He also flows from within us. That means as we go on with our daily lives people around us will be touched by a Counselor, a Helper, a Comforter, a Strengthener… As they come in contact with this supernatural presence, this living water, they will in turn never thirst again.

To read about more amazing things inside our innermost being the moment we are born again, visit the following posts: